Samurai Seven
Issue #1, “Welcome To The City of Crime”
REAL NAMES: Socrates Xia, Mairead Ortiz, Anika Zia, Chuck Ruiz, Roberto Morales, Jeb Pullen, Stewart Pullen (deceased), Julian deWitt Hess.
CURRENT STATUS: Escaped from Nehalem County lockup shortly after April Fools Day (2002) riots. Julian Hess, the group’s reputed quartermaster and “booking agent,” subsequently jumped bail. Stewart Pullen was killed 27 January 2002 by Street Crimes Unit officers responding to the same silent alarm as The Doe Family.
SUPER POWERS: None. The Seven are a group of small-time thugs with a big-time gimmick, that being stylized low-grade powered armor. It’s more than a match for most cops, and even some superheroes.
Abu Scirocco
Issue #2, “Al-Amarja Can-Can”
REAL NAME: Mahmoud Fawzi Jihad.
DESCRIPTION: Sharp dresser, 5-9, 180#, black hair, black eyes, Middle Eastern, 40-45 years of age, non-religious.
CURRENT STATUS: Location undisclosed, in Federal Homeland Security custody since January 2002.
SUPER POWERS: None. Abu Scirocco is a Spetznaz-trained Lybian mercenary assassin who eschews the radical-chic fatigues for business suits. He is easily the equal of any one or two of the world’s best elite soldiers.
Goth Underground
Issue #2, “Al-Amarja Can-Can”
DESCRIPTION: GU members come from all walks of life and can be of just about any ethnicity. Their hierarchy, however, hails from Eastern Europe, usually Hungary or Bulgaria. Hard-core GU members have been known to have fangs and glowing red eyes. They are rarely seen in the daytime.
CURRENT STATUS: After assisting Abu Scirocco in the failed taking of the Al-Amarja Shrine Temple, the hard-core GU members who weren’t captured or killed went deep underground.
SUPER POWERS: All the classic vampire characteristics—-bite, flight, toughness, regeneration, mesmerism, vulnerability to wooden stakes, heightened senses, aversion to garlic, you name it.
Dr. Legba
Issue #4, “Who Do The Voodoo? Do You Do?”
REAL NAME: Simon Etienne Legba.
DESCRIPTION: Sharp dresser, 6-7, 300#, black hair, black eyes, African-American, 40-45 years of age, sometimes likes to paint all sorts of mystical symbols all over himself.
CURRENT STATUS: Naturalized US citizen with no criminal record, he is the subject of much speculation about his role in the Tonton Macoutes in his native Haiti.
SUPER POWERS: Legba is a powerful and charismatic sorcerer whose ability has yet to be measured. Those familiar with him don’t want to find out how powerful he may be.
Top Hat & Too Tall
Issue #4, “Who Do The Voodoo? Do You Do?”
REAL NAME: Arnaud Blanc (Top Hat), Tomas Darteguenave (Too Tall).
DESCRIPTION (TOP HAT): Sharp dresser, 6-3, 180#, white hair, brown eyes, African-American, 45-50 years of age.
DESCRIPTION (TOP HAT): Casual dresser, 2-8, 30#, brown dreadlocked hair, brown eyes, African-American, 25-30 years of age.
CURRENT STATUS: Blanc is a naturalized US citizen, Darteguenave is native-born.
SUPER POWERS: Similar to Legba’s but lower in intensity and scope. They are Legba’s trusted lieutenants.
V.I.P.E.R. (Vanquish Imperialist Persecution, Enterprises and Regimes)
Issue #4, “Who Do The Voodoo? Do You Do?”
DESCRIPTION: Common soldier types (Commandos) generally wear green fatigues over state-of-the-art body armor. The Shocktrooper wears a suit of light powered armor, as does the Captain. Elite VIPER Red Guild troops generally wear red camouflage fatigues and customized body armor.
CURRENT STATUS: Active.
SUPER POWERS: Some in the group do possess super powers, but these usually are Red Guild troops. One exception is the dim-witted Mogg.
[NOTE: This VIPER is inspired by a Champions villain group of the same name, a trademark of Hero Games.]
Ravensgate Klown Kollege
(The Pagliacci Gang)
Issue #4, “Who Do The Voodoo? Do You Do?”
NAMES: William Paulsen, aka Guillermo Pagliacci; Russell Sharples, aka Rusty Shrapnel, etc.
DESCRIPTION: Thugs with a gimmick who dress like clowns.
CURRENT STATUS: Various members, including Paulsen and Sharples, are incarcerated. The rest are at large and working as muscle for the Ravensgate Crime Commission.
SUPER POWERS: None, although they do wield some very imaginative weaponry.
Team Hyperion
Issues #5-6, “A Hot Time In Old Town, Parts I & II”
REAL NAME: Theo Watkins (Paladin Noir), Mose Watkins (Brother Knight), Laurie Nunez-Watkins (Caballera), Harald Lipshitz (Halitosis), Romina Castle (Imp), unknown (Ninth-Dimensional Man), unknown (Gemini), Emil Kergillian (The Somnambulist, not pictured).
CURRENT STATUS (TEAM): Disbanded after a series of calamities in the Spring of 2002—-leader Paladin Noir was summoned away for military service (Issue #2, “Al-Amarja Can-Can”), one-third of membership revealed to be criminals (Issue #8, “A Penny For Your Thoughts”), Caballera’s civilian identity was elected to replace a recalled City Assemblyman, and Gemini joined COMETPRO. Brother Knight and Halitosis still act as solo heroes.
CURRENT STATUS (IMP & NINTH-DIMENSIONAL MAN): Awaiting trial on a myriad of corruption charges, confined to the Sheridan Federal Regional Stronghold.
CURRENT STATUS (THE SOMNAMBULIST): Believed deceased.
CURRENT STATUS (PALADIN NOIR): Serving with Interpol Justice Force One in the Middle East.
CURRENT STATUS (CABALLERA): Semi-retired.
SUPER POWERS: See the Team Hyperion entry in the Ravensgate Encyclopedia.
The Somnambulist
Dr. Patria Morii
Issue #8, “A Penny For Your Thoughts” (Somnambulist), and Issue #25, “The Search” (Morii)
Both The Somnambulist and Dr. Patria Morii represent the first appearance of the modern Ravensgate Crime Commission. They also represent a widespread criminal conspiracy whose crimes included the murders of the original Team Hyperion and the mass mind-controlling of the second team.
Patrick Henry and Patria Morii are self-cloning artificially-created superspies from a 22nd-century rogue state, the Republic of Borneo Davao Siam and Myanmar (BDSM). Their creator, named Kergillian, had defected to the BDSM from Maximillian Morell’s research group.
Their exact agenda in the 21st century is unknown, but it is known that their mission is to infiltrate normal society and try to fit in until needed by their controllers in their home timeline. As Emil Kergillian, the Patrick Henry series of clones not only had a thriving medical practice, he also was the superhero The Somnambulist. Going by her own name, Morii shared that medical practice and, at one point, had even married a 20th-century human.
These clones from the future, and other time travelers, sometimes can maintain contact with their homes via nine-dimensional wormholes. According to one alternate future timeline, Maximillian Morell will discover their usefulness in the late 22nd century.
REAL NAME (SOMNAMBULIST): Patrick Henry, Emil Kergillian.
DESCRIPTION: Black hair, blue eyes, Caucasian, 40-45 years old, 6-0, 180#.
CURRENT STATUS: Believed deceased.
SUPER POWERS: Mind control (mesmerism upon eye contact), cyberpathy, accelerated healing, hyperintellect, and access to futuristic technology. Also has the ability to remote-activate his next clone in the event of death.
DESCRIPTION (MORII): Female Eurasian, brown hair, hazel eyes, apparent age 20-30, 5-3, 110#.
CURRENT STATUS: Whereabouts unknown.
SUPER POWERS: Cyberpathy, accelerated healing, hyperintellect, enhanced reflexes, heightened agility, and access to futuristic technology. Also has the ability to remote-activate her next clone in the event of death.
The Iron Comrade
Issue #9, “Goin’ Postal”
DESCRIPTION: The Iron Comrade suit is designed for a wearer between 6-4 and 6-6, weighing about 240-280# and with very little body fat.
CURRENT STATUS: After the fall of the Soviet Union, many of these suits fell into the hands of organized crime. There always is only one Iron Comrade at any given time; the other suits are held in reserve in case spare parts are needed.
SUPER POWERS: Magnetic levitation flight, repulsor blasts, power jacks for leaping and lifting, Zaitsev Mk. XII targeting system, Tesla coil-supported anti-artillery armor.
Dominic “The Chef” Spanno
&/or
“Omerta”
Issue #9, “Goin’ Postal”
REAL NAME: Dominic Alicante Spanno. Omerta’s is unknown.
DESCRIPTION: Spanno is 6-3, 220#, graying black hair, blue eyes, 50-55 years old. Omerta is a shapeshifter.
CURRENT STATUS: Spanno has cut a deal with the DEA, Omerta was incarcerated but current whereabouts are unknown.
SUPER POWERS: Spanno, who is in incredible shape for his age, is one of the world’s best marksmen and knife fighters.
Omerta, a Spanno protégé, is a shapeshifter who retains the DNA and likeness of his most recent blood transfusion.
B.O.B.
Issue #11, “T-Minus”
REAL NAME: unknown. Believed to be a Morii/Kergillian-created clone, he claims his name is an acronym for “Bio-Organic Battle-oid.”
DESCRIPTION: Greyish-complexioned humanoid, approximately 20 years old, 6-6, 300#, bald, grey eyes, no navel.
CURRENT STATUS: Incarcerated in Sheridan Federal Regional Stronghold after attempting to murder two members of the Sinclair Commission.
SUPER POWERS: Resilient skeleto-muscular system, bio-magnetic energy discharges, accelerated healing, super strength, accelerated reflexes and heightened agility.
Monkeywrench
Issue #11, “T-Minus”
REAL NAME: Yevgeny Kulikov.
DESCRIPTION: Caucasian male, age 30-35, 6-2, 210#, black hair, and green eyes.
CURRENT STATUS: Whereabouts unknown.
SUPER POWERS: Yevgeny Kulikov is a former Spetznaz soldier who gained his powers from exposure to a radiological “dirty bomb” used on Afghan civilians. He can control vast amounts of magnetic and electrical energy, rip apart a battle tank, and fly at speeds greater than those of common sports cars. He also can teleport by disassembling himself at Point A and reassembling himself at point B.
The Sum of All Fields
Issue #14, “Highly Illogical”
REAL NAME: The Sum of All Fields.
DESCRIPTION: Seven-foot-tall metallic-skinned artificially-intelligent android. Can attach other shells to its exoskeleton; for example, it was disguised as a Cylon at RavenCon9.
CURRENT STATUS: Unknown. It is believed that this android has the same self-perpetuation ability as its creator, Dr. Patria Morii.
SUPER POWERS: Extremely tough exoskeleton, two-ton lifting capacity, electromagnetic repulsor guns in arms, cyberpathic interface, redundant targeting systems, hyper-intellect, enhanced reflexes, extra-hardened striking surfaces on hands and forearms.
Vladek Grozny
Issue #14, “Highly Illogical”
DESCRIPTION: Pale-complexioned, red-haired, violet-eyed Eastern European of indeterminate age. He stands six feet tall and weighs about 170-190.
CURRENT STATUS: Incarcerated in Sheridan Federal Regional Stronghold. Due to a “skin condition” he’s being kept in the Medical Isolation Ward.
SUPER POWERS: Shapechange (into animal form, usually rodent), super strength, mesmerism (mind control requiring sustained eye contact), fast healing, leaping, flight (if assuming bat form), heightened agility.
Cleaner #1
Cleaner #2
Issue #14, “Highly Illogical”
REAL NAMES: Unknown. Their creator, Dr. Emil Kergillian, never gave them any name other than their numbers.
DESCRIPTIONS: The two “cleaners” are of virtually the same build; they stand 5-7 and weigh about 120#. Cleaner #1 has red hair and green eyes, while Cleaner #2 has black hair and blue eyes. Their eyes are abnormally large for their face, making them virtually identical to the animated versions of themselves that appeared in the “Anime Mundi” story arc. According to Energon of The Foundry, Cleaner #1 measures 33-23-36 and Cleaner #2 is 33-22-35.
CURRENT STATUS: Unknown. These are vat-bred artificial persons, like Kergillian and Morii, and their “names” may reflect their series number.
SUPER POWERS: None, except maybe their reflexes. They’re goons, yes, but they’re well-equipped goons. They have big technologically-advanced guns, usually energy weapons. Their bikinis contain probability-alteration fields, which may explain their comprehensive armor coverage.
Tau Cetian Grays
Issue #15, “To Boldly Go…”
DESCRIPTION: Four-foot-tall, grayish-skinned humanoids with oversized eyes that vary in color from light violet to deep indigo.
CURRENT STATUS: Active. Few on 21st-century Earth believe they’re real.
SUPER POWERS: Hive-mind telepathy which is constant within families or living groups, empathy which is constant, some affinity (empathy?) for artificial- or simulated-intelligence technology, sensitivity to intense magnetic fields.
Atlantean Merfolk
Issue #18, “Whisky In A Jar”
DESCRIPTION: Average height 6-1, bluish skin with purple scale clusters, gills in neck, and reddish compound eyes.
CURRENT STATUS: Active. Few on 21st-century Earth are aware of their existence.
SUPER POWERS: Varies with caste and occupation. Most have the ability to transform into transparent liquid beings, are much faster outside the confines of water, are resistant to extremes in pressure, can use hearing as a targeting sense, see in the IR and UV spectra, and heal quickly when in water.
Others, including World War II superhero Captain Atlantis, can simulate a human appearance and manipulate water at the molecular level—-including leeching it out of living matter!
